Nissan Rolls Out an Electric Z Concept

When we first saw a production-ready version of the very impressive Nissan Leaf two years ago, we asked the brass, “Great. When do we see an electric Z?”

Next month, actually.

The Japanese automaker rolls into the Geneva auto show with the Esflow, a slick concept built from the ground up to be an electric sports car approaching the Tesla Roadster. Rather than simply slap an electric motor — two, actually — in a Nissan 370Z and call it a day, the engineers say they designed the Esflow from the ground up.

Nissan didn’t offer any specs beyond saying the car has two motors mounted just above and ahead of the rear axle. The battery is of course lithium-ion, down low between the axles to improve handling. No word on size, but Nissan claims the car has a range of 149 miles. Given that the Nissan Leaf sports a 24 kilowatt-hour pack good for an EPA-certified 73 miles, we’re looking at a big honkin’ battery or a vehicle far more efficient than the Leaf.

The drivetrain tech was adapted from the Leaf’s hardware but massaged to improve performance. Nissan claims the Esflow will hit 60 mph in less than 5 seconds.
Everything’s mounted to an aluminum chassis wrapped in composite bodywork.

This is a concept car, a flight of fancy to be wheeled out in Geneva. Company boss Carlos Ghosn or one of his lieutenants no doubt will hail it as the future of sports cars and a new direction for personal mobility. Nissan will dodge the question of when, or if, this car ever will see production because no one ever says anything about production when they roll out a cool concept. Instead, they say things like, “The Esflow is based on existing technology, implemented in innovative ways,” which means, “If the response is favorable enough, we conceivably could build some variation of this car without monumental R&D costs.”

That said, we will note two things. First, Ghosn has told us he sees Nissan building a full range of electric vehicles. And two, Nissan North America has one guy handling product planning for EVs and sports cars. In other words, the same guy behind the Leaf was behind the GT-R, so an electric sports car is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Images: Nissan. Presumably we’ll see actual photos when the car is unveiled in Geneva.